In your view, is being gay something a person is born with, or due to factors such as upbringing and environment? I am not asking whether homosexuality is a "choice", but whether being homosexual may be influenced by one's upbringing as opposed to one's biological make-up.

"In the past decade, I think the pendulum has swung more toward biological theory and biological causes," said Richard Lippa, a psychology professor at California State University-Fullerton, who has studied hair patterns and other biological traits in gay men.

What are your thoughts?

NOTE: This topic brings people to the table commenting about a subject that is not divided by one's political or religious affiliation. There are gays who are democratic, gays who are republicans, libertarians, bi-sexuals and homosexuals involved in Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, Scientology, etc I would like to hear from all groups as well as those who are gay, as to how they view this topic. However, this is not a platform to be disrespectful of gays or any group. It asks a question that has been asked many times before, and I'm curious to see how the SH community votes. Please - if you cannot be respectful, then do not respond on this poll. Thank you.

Fruit Fly and Rat experiments indicate that hyper sexual fruit flies engage is homosexual activity only because there are many more male fruit flies than females, and Rats supposedly engage in Homosexual activity for much the same reasons as Dogs do as a process to enforce hierarchical intentions... All that I know is that for the last 75 years I did not really care either way what people like to lick or suck on... but as of late I have decided that the entire issue is about as interesting as why some dogs become habitual coprophagous... I am tired of having the Homosexual agenda shoved down my throat at every turn and pushed up my backside every time I bend over... So just shut up and live your miserable lives and do the things you like to do instead of looking for excuses for your proclivities. Imagine if all the money spent on these silly studies were put to a cure for the prolapsed anus, or applied to a new school that trains the new specialized therapist, aka the PsychoGyno Omphaloskepsologist...

I highly doubt it's environment, but at the same time it might not be genetics. What it could be, however, are hormone levels before birth. I think homosexual males have a higher level of estrogen than heterosexual males, if I recall correctly.

No one knows for certain. The American Psychological Association says, "For most people, sexual orientation is shaped at an early age through complex interactions of biological, psychological, and social factors. Sexual orientation is not a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed." The A.M.A., The Academy of Pediatrics, The World Health Organization, and many others organizations, agree with this statement.
I doubt anyone will know before most of us are long gone.

Genetics and environment always work together. This is why, between one identical twin and the other, that sometimes gene for various conditions are expressed and sometimes not.

The average lay person, however, interprets that in a totally different way than any scientist would. I think the article did at least a half-way decent job of exploring the differences in interpretation and assumptions made between trained scientists and others.

Um.... If Homosexuality were strictly genetic it would have been eliminated by now... that sort of thing doesn't perpetuate. People born with issues related to reproduction sterility, genital malformation, homosexuality simply don't reproduce in Most cases. Outside of factors like Fertility clinics, ClosetCases and copious alcohol consumption homosexuals rarely reproduce.

I've discussed this with my friends who ARE gay. They differ in everything but the fact that it is NOT a choice. Some feel that upbringing played a part, some didn't. There are a number who feel that a domineering mother and a weak or absent father can play a part - but not enough to completely change someone's sexual orientation....just that it may, uh...making them 'swishier'.

I cannot and will not accept biological behavioral determinism. The very concept is absolutely, positively absurd.

Homosexuality is a developmental arrest. And for proof that the environment is THE influence on homosexuality, I cite ancient Greece. Homosexuality rates hit fifty percent in gay-tolerant (and indeed, gay-fostering) Greek city-states, like ancient Corinth. In ancient Rome, which frowned upon homosexuality, rates never got above one percent. As any *honest* historian will tell you.

I believe it is primarily genetics, although there are certainly some people who choose to experiment with homosexual behaviour. My ex wife left her ex husband and 'came out of the closet' before she met me... she eventually left me and is now with a man again... she doesn't claim to be bisexual, either, she tells everyone she is straight now. So, she CHOSE to 'be gay' for about two years.
Actually, I should have strictly went with "genetics"... I don't think one's upbringing has anything to do with true homosexuality.

I don't know. I know of two siblings who were severely abused by their step mother and they are both gay, one lesbian, one gay male. I think that their abuse as a lot to do with it. I also know a woman who was raped when she was very young and for most of her 20's lived with a woman. Right around 30 she "discovered" that she wasn't really a lesbian and eventually married a man but the assault led to her absolutely hating men for a period of time and convinced her that she was safer with women. I do believe that people can suffer physical or emotional abuse at a young age which leads them to make these choices. Quite honestly, only one person I know who is a lesbian had what seems to be a normal upbringing. Everyone else suffered some serious abuse.

I think there are those who definitely have something genetically going on. I've been around some young children - boys, for example, who are extremely feminine in appearance as well as actions.

However, it is also evident to me that it can have a lot to do with things that occur while growing up. In either case, I don't think it is a "conscious" choice - something that the individual has control over.

Sorry, folks, but we are not born to be gay. It is not our biological or sexual "default" position.

A person who is gay is disordered sexually -- although he/she may be perfectly normal in every other aspect of life.

We are simply not born or designed to be that way. My hunch is that it's the result of a social environment and culture that has become hysterically obsessed with sex. And which has come to celebrate and promote homosexuality.

I really don't think a person is "born that way." Yes, I know that people cite "science" that says gay people are born that way -- but like anything else, "science" can become highly politicized.

I think it's biological, possibly a chemical imbalance or something similar. I also entertain the idea that it comes from some traumatic occurrence in a young child's life. My ex-husband was gay and I saw that he had some real mental instability along with being gay. It seemed like a complete syndrome of different symptoms.

And you know who's normal? I'm not saying he was a raving lunatic, at least not all of the time, just maybe a little unbalanced. How do you explain all the personal characteristics that many or most gay men have? Do you think that's just a sexual preference?